How to define a new paper size for printing

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Level 3

581 points

How to define a new paper size for printing

I have an Epson printer in my network and I use it from a Mac running Big Sur.

I would like to define a new paper size for this printer:

A4 borderless

I was able to define in the past, I think under High Sierra, many formats for different printers, and I see this saved configuration upon

trying to print: for example with a format named:

100 x 148 mm (borderless)

But I am unable to find through any combination of menus in

System Preferences… > Printers & Scanners

how to define a new paper format.

How to reach this useful function?

I tried to tag this question with Printing, but this category doesn't exist.

Is this normal?

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Aug 28, 2024 3:43 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MartinR

Level 7

25,322 points

Sep 2, 2024 6:23 AM in response to Zorba_le_grec

It may be something that is specific to certain printers & apps.

I just checked my system - 27" iMac, Monterey 12.7.6, Epson XP-15000 printer.

In most cases, in the Print dialog, there is an option called Paper Size and "A4 borderless 8.27" by 11.69" is a selectable option. I said in most cases because when I tested this, the Paper Size selection was available in Preview, Photoshop, Excel, Powerpoint, Keynote ... but not in MS Word, Numbers or Firefox. Although in Word & Pages you could get to it via Page Setup > Paper Size. Inconsistent, for certain.

In the Print dialog, in those cases where Paper Size appeared, there is also an option "Manage Custom Sizes" where you can create your own paper sizes & margins. But if you create a borderless option there you probably must also tweak the Expansion setting in order to get actual borderless prints.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,409 points

Aug 28, 2024 10:09 PM in response to Zorba_le_grec

Hi, Text Edit>PgeSetup>Paper size>Manage Custom Sizes...

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Answer 3

Zorba_le_grec Author

Level 3

581 points

Aug 29, 2024 12:27 AM in response to BDAqua

@BDAqua: 👏🏻! Thank you. You brought me hope here.

Please forgive my silly question which is purposefully adressed to a user of trust.

Why is this tuning hidden in such a way and not directly in:

System Preferences… > Printers & Scanners

I see it as a total failure of modern operating system ergonomics.

This is a strategic area which helps to avoid making users incompetent, errors, pitfalls and indirectly cybercrime.

It's a profound disappointment

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,409 points

Aug 29, 2024 4:56 AM in response to Zorba_le_grec

I can understand, and it is a bit strange, but I think in it's infancy Custom Page sizes wasn't even thought of , just standard sizes for simplicity... & then one day somebody running Text Edit needed a Custom Page size, so it got added there & likely becuase of infrequent use didn't rise the problem to the level of needing to rework the whole OS.:)

Sortof like why CMD+v for Paste... CMD+p was already taken for print, which was an early imoportant function of any OS... & CMD+v was right next to Copy CMD+c for easily remembering.

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